Sunday, June 18, 2006

When Torbjorn Johannes Maage emigrated to the United States from Norway in 1882, he left behind his wallet. It somehow ended up in the family of Tor Oevsthus, who recently tracked down a descendant of Torbjorn in Minnesota.

"I have taken for granted that it came into my family in an honorable way," Oevsthus said. "But you never know. Maybe it was won in a poker game? My thought is that this family needed some money to make the journey to America, and they sold this wallet with other possessions.

"It is a very nice piece of work, but it had nothing to do with my family. I thought it was very important to find the right address for it." [Link]